


Cut Ties, Frozen Hearts.

by TheFamousFireLadyM



Series: Frozen Hearts [2]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Affairs, Babies, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Descent into Madness, F/M, Gen, Hans is a dickwagon, Miscarriage, Revolution, Snow Queen references, blatant adventure time references, fable was my inspiration this time, hans is hella racist, political subterfuge, sequel to open doors, unexpected UST
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-01-14 01:45:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1248112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFamousFireLadyM/pseuds/TheFamousFireLadyM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hans has been distant and always away from home. Elsa is starting to worry he's conducting an affair. But something violent is bubbling under the surface of the peaceful idyllic kingdom, and will Arendelle's royal family be able to handle it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hans

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Frozen, don't work for Disney and this is a not for profit fanwork. Thanks for reading.

"Petra, darling, your father has business elsewhere." Elsa cast a withering look at her husband over her shoulder as he readied his travel bags.

"But it isn't fair! It's my birthday, and I want him to stay home!" The seven year old stomped her feet, already beginning to sulk.

"He's very busy, you know that." Elsa found herself watching how Hans did not even cast a guilty glance in their direction, as she attempted to placate the child.

"He's never home long enough though, Mumma.. Couldn't you make him stay?"

"I.." Elsa brought her hand to her throat, half afraid she would give in, and even more fearful that Hans would refuse.

That was when Hans at long last looked their way. His gaze locked onto hers for a beat, and then she tore her eyes away to compose herself.

"Petra, he's a busy man. Isn't that right, darling?" She caught his gaze once more as the servants began to load his bags into the carriage waiting outside.

"Of course." Hans absently waved a hand, to direct the servants.

"He'll be gone for quite a while this time." Elsa added through early gritted teeth, the bitterness not going unnoticed by the child.

"Mumma—?" The child's green eyes were fixed on her emotional mother's face.

"Petra, sweetheart, go play with Gunter for a bit. Your father and I need to talk." Elsa put her fingertips to her left temple, one arm still crossed over her chest.

Petra's eyes grew wide. Whenever they needed to talk, it was always something important, and the way her mother looked right now meant she was angry at something. She got out of there as fast as she could, hiding down the hall to eavesdrop.

"Who is it you're going to see this time?" Elsa's voice was dangerously low as she stepped toward him.

"I'm going to the Southern Isles, you know that, Elsa. I'm busy, after all. You said it yourself. 'He's a busy man'." His tone was ever so slightly mocking, cutting in its own way. He didn't bother contesting it, knowing she was suspicious of him either way.

"What could be possibly so important there that couldn't be dealt with at it's own pace, after your only child's birthday?" Her voice was shrill and she knew it, but she didn't dare stop. "You've been neglecting the both of us, Hans. This secrecy needs to stop-"

"Elsa, please." He cupped her face in his hands to cut her words short, embroidered blue gloves perfectly fitted to his shortened few fingers.

"Hans, I—" She closed her eyes and covered his hands with her own.

He kissed her, just a quick romantic peck on the lips.

"Just have a little more faith in me." He whispered to her, breathless. "I love you." Elsa opened her eyes, peering up at him, "But my faith is wearing thin, and it's only so much I can believe until I can't believe anything you say anymore."

Hans only kissed her again, deeper this time, and released her face. "I'll only be gone for two weeks, three weeks tops. I promise you."

There was a weight in the pit of her stomach as she let him go, watching him leave.

He's gone for two months this time, and Elsa grew worried at first until she resigned herself to the fact that Hans had to have left her for good for a woman who didn't freeze everything over in the bedroom the morning after. She knew it would come to this eventually, but Elsa didn't know it would hurt this much. Petra missed her father most of all. It all but broke her heart to see the child upset this way.

"Mumma, why isn't Daddy home yet?" Petra had asked her one morning, before her lessons. It took all of Elsa's self control not to just burst into furious screaming and freeze the castle over again.

She maintained control, breathing still ragged. "He's just been busy, Petra. He will be back home before long, I promise." She wondered to herself whether her promises were in vain, and whether or not her child was losing hope in Hans ever returning either.

"Do you really promise?" Petra looked up at her; the trust in her eyes was too much for Elsa so she had to avert her gaze.

"I promise."

The tiny redhead ran to her mother and hugged her tightly. "I love you, Mumma."

She smoothed down her hair, squeezing Petra tight.

Elsa whispered into her sweet smelling hair. "I love you too, darling, and so does your father."

"He doesn't seem like it." There was truth to her statement, and Elsa sharply looked at her daughter's expression.

"He does. I know he does, Petra. He works hard to make sure we are safe." She clutched at Petra's shoulders.

The child lowered her gaze. "You could do that, Mumma. I've seen how you can use the ice to protect us."

Elsa smiled despite herself, and held Petra close to her. "I don't want to have to resort to using my powers, sweetheart."

"Daddy always said not to be afraid of using your powers though!" She insisted, stamping her feet.

"I know, Petra, but he meant you." The slight smile dropped from her lips quickly. "There are people out there who will try to make you think you're a monster, and you're not."

"Did that happen to you?" She asked Elsa softly.

There was a long period of silence. "Yes."


	2. Elsa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Frozen, have not, and do not currently work at Disney. This is a not for profit fanwork. Thank you for reading.

"Queen Elsa, I.." Kristoff was standing in the doorway; that crown she had made still perched precariously on his head.

Elsa sat up straight from where she was writing a letter to Hans she would never send, frost spattering from her fingertips in her surprise. "Is something the matter?"

"No, I just needed to talk to you." He stepped into her room and closed the door behind him, in case Anna was around.

Her chair scraped the floor as she stood, turning to face him.

"Speak then." Elsa folded her arms over her chest.

"Promise me you won't tell Anna. I don't want her to get upset." His tone was earnest, and Elsa knew something was wrong.

"What is it then?" Elsa felt a shiver run down her spine when she realized Kristoff was as cold as she was.

"I think this crown has been affecting me."

The deadly silver glint of the headpiece drew her eyes to it, and she spoke without pulling her gaze away. "Why do you say that?"

"I've been.. Seeing things, and Anna's noticed how cold I've been." Kristoff shifted where he stood, the mention of Anna making him uncomfortable.

The Queen furrowed her brow, at once able to tear her eyes from the magnetic ice crown. "What kind of things?"

Her fingertips brushed against his temples, as she reached up to lift the crown and examine it. There were white patches of frosted hair at his temples, and his skin was clammy to the touch which Elsa noted.

"Things." He insisted, plainly, not going into detail as he met her eyes. She didn't blink or look away, simply she held his gaze.

He covered her hand with his own. "I don't want her to worry."

Elsa's face colored just a little. "I won't tell her." She wasn't sure why she was whispering.

Kristoff let a smile cross his pallid, almost bruised looking features; he was squeezing her hand tighter. "Thank you."

Elsa closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to steady her sudden nervousness; it had come out of nowhere. "You're welcome."

There was the sound of the door opening and in bounded Gunter, Petra trailing along beside him. The blonde boy was tall for his age, towering over his younger cousin by almost a foot.

"Mama told us to go look for you. Can we play outside in the snow, please?" Gunter begged his father.

Kristoff looked to Elsa for a moment, before looking back at his son. "Yes, we can go outside."

Anna soon appeared in the doorway, all radiant and smiling at six months pregnant. Elsa's face reddened slightly upon realizing how close Kristoff was to her.

Kristoff cleared his throat and backed off. "Anna, shouldn't you be resting? The doctor insisted you must stay in bed."

"This baby isn't going anywhere, Kristoff. I know this." She covered her stomach with her hand. "Not like the other ones."

He crossed the room with the slightest of limps and pulled Anna into a gentle embrace, kissing her cheek. Anna lay her free hand on his jaw, turning toward Elsa. "Is Kristoff alright?"

Elsa snapped out of her reverie, stepping back toward her desk and crumpling up the letter she was penning. Tossing it into the fire, she spoke. "O-oh, yes.. He's alright. I was checking to see if his crown was working the way it should."

That answer satisfied her sister, and Anna beamed broadly. "I'm glad. I was hoping it was nothing."

Kristoff met Elsa's gaze from across the room in a silent thank you, before she turned to look at the fire consume her elegant handwriting and the embossed parchment. The flames reflected in her blue eyes, and she shivered despite the heat.

"Elsa, are you okay?" Anna reached out to touch her sister's shoulder. She didn't turn.

"I'm fine, Anna. Please, just leave me alone for now. I.. need to be alone right now." Elsa's voice was shaky.

"Kristoff, take the kids outside. I want to talk to my sister." Anna's voice was the most commanding Elsa had ever heard it.

Petra was gripping her cousin's hand tightly through her mittens, in the winter chill. "Why is Mumma sad?"

Gunter was using a long stick to write his cousin's name in the snow to show her how to write it. "It's because of the king."

"My Daddy isn't the king, though. Not the king of Arendelle. Mumma's the ruler of Arendelle." Petra answered, sniffling her red nose as she was just getting over a cold.

"Don't be such a baby, Petra. Your daddy's the king of some other place, remember?" Gunter replied, underlining his work in the snow with a flourish of the stick. He handed it over to her and scuffed out the letters in the snow. "Your turn to write your name. It's P-E-T-R-A, okay?"

The redhead stuck out her tongue as she concentrated, breath coming out in plumes of steam and rising into the cold air.

"Anna, please. He's been gone too long. There has to be something wrong." Elsa pressed her lips together tightly, hugging herself despite the muggy warmth in the room. Even the windows were fogged up, but it did not feel like it to the Queen.

"You need to keep up hope, okay? Like how me and Kristoff did when we lost Agatha, and when we lost Fredrich, and all of the other babies." Anna spoke to her sister tenderly, voice tinged with sorrow.

"I'm not like you, Anna. I couldn't keep going the way you do, the way you did." Her voice broke and Elsa was swiftly fighting back tears, wiping them away with her gloved hands.

"If Hans really does care about you, he wouldn't just abandon you like this. Elsa, it hurts for me to see you like this."Anna pulled her sister into a hug.

She met her sister's eyes, and swallowed hard. "I. I guess you're right. I can't let Petra lose hope either. She's so perceptive for a little girl."

"We noticed. Gunter really is protective of her, too." Anna smiled, and held her sister out at arms length. "They're so close they're nearly inseparable."

"He'll keep her mind off of her father, I'm sure.." Elsa finally acknowledged it, and let a faint smile cross her pursed lips.

"See? You'll be okay, I promise. We'll help you through it, me and Kristoff and the kids. And before you know it, Hans will be back again, I'm sure of it."

"I just hope you're right." Elsa murmured, casting her gaze elsewhere.


	3. Revolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Frozen, don't work for Disney, and have never worked for Disney. This is a not for profit fanwork. Thank you for reading.

Anna persuaded Elsa to join them for a romp outside, despite Kristoff's worrying and fretting over his wife like a mother hen. The Queen was actually having fun and smiling, her mind off of Hans for once until Petra slipped up and exclaimed Daddy as Kristoff played with them, as the little ones chased Olaf around the grounds, Kristoff very nearly keeping up with them on his bad leg every time.

Elsa stiffened, and her face crumpled as she hastened her steps back into the castle.

"Elsa, wait!" Anna called after her, before picking up her skirts and rushing after her, Kristoff's worries be damned.

She ran into her bedroom and slammed the door hard enough to rattle the portraits and paintings in their frames.

Anna tried the door and it was locked. "Elsa! It was an accident! Petra's only seven, it doesn't mean anything!"

The only response she got in return was a muffled "Go away!" and the sound of shattered glass, or it might have been ice cracking.

"Elsa, please!" Anna hammered the door with her fist. "Just let me in."

Complete silence answered her, before the door opened and Elsa stood before her with reddened eyes.

"That's better." Anna attempted to soothe her, stepping in past her.

"I don't want Petra to forget Hans." Elsa managed to stammer out, as she added wood to the fire almost compulsively.

"He's not dead, Elsa. Just somewhere else. Where we just can't find him."

She stiffened. "What if he is dead? He's as good as dead if he's never coming back"

"Elsa, please, stop worrying like this. I'm sure it's nothing. Remember how Mother and Father would always be gone on trips for weeks at a time?"

Now that she mentioned it, Elsa did remember.

Anna could see her sister visibly relax. "Yeah, he's probably fine, and you're just over reacting."

Elsa sunk into the armchair closest to the fire; that was her designated spot every evening now. Soon after Anna sat down beside her, Kristoff and the children ran in, all of them covered in snow from head to foot; Accompanied by Olaf.

"Mumma, are you alright now?" Petra clambered into her mother's lap, the snow melting quickly in the heat of the fire.

Olaf's little flurry was the only thing keeping him from melting in the intense warmth.

Elsa held her daughter close. Gunter stood at guard by her chair; he really was inseparable from his cousin. "I'm sorry I acted the way I did, my darling."

"It's okay, I miss Daddy too."

"Do you admit your crimes against the people?" The curly haired soldier asked, no, demanded, pointing her crossbow in Hans' face. She was clad in an ill fitting guardsman's cloak, with a green armband that proclaimed she was one of those damned revolutionaries he'd been trying to quell the uprising of. Her dark skin was caked with red paint (or that might have been blood, Hans hoped not, for his own sake) and dirt.

"I admit I shouldn't have allowed myself to get caught." Hans spat, dryly. "Your little band of miscreants have made me miss my daughter's birthday."

The revolutionary grabbed a hank of his dirty hair and tugged his head backward, forcibly baring his neck to the point of her bolt. The motion absurdly reminded him of Elsa and he felt a pang of guilt in his chest.

"When we're through with you, you'll be lucky if you can even think of your little bourgeoisie bastard and your whore." Her filthy teeth were revealed when the teen, that's all she really was, curled her lips in a snarl.

That was the last straw; Hans fought back. He could handle them insulting and spitting on him but as soon as they even got close to insulting Elsa and Petra, that was enough.

The girl managed to slam his head against the brick wall behind him with her grip on his hair as he swung a punch at her stomach. He saw stars for a moment, unsure if his blow even landed as he reeled, all of the wind knocked out of him when the girl reciprocated with a swing of the butt end of the crossbow at his solar plexus. He was sure he blacked out because when he came to, it was dark. He was still in the cell in whatever dank prison they had tossed him into, so that hadn't changed.

Hans winced and reached up to touch the back of his head where it felt the most tender. His fingers drew back bloody. The former prince worked up enough saliva to spit in disgust; after all, they hadn't given him any clean water to drink and his mouth tasted bitter.

A door rattled open somewhere in the inky blackness outside the cell and light shone into the tiny window. Keys jangled in front of his door and Hans readied himself to leap at the first chance he got to escape.

Elsa rolled over in her bed, closer toward the warmth beside her. She was sure she was dreaming that Hans was back. Opening her eyes, she realized she wasn't dreaming. Beside her lay Kristoff, half undressed, and unshaven. Elsa shot upright, clutching her bed sheets to her chest. He stirred in his sleep, but didn't rouse. She felt ill. Elsa didn't remember anything from the night before. Just putting Petra to bed, and then retreating to her own room with a bottle of wine and Kristoff asking to join her while Anna rested— Oh. Oh. Oh no.

She leapt out of bed, dressing as fast as she could before Kristoff awoke. Who knew how he'd react to this kind of betrayal of Anna.

It wasn't even sunrise yet, but Elsa couldn't get back to sleep after that, especially since Kristoff was in her bed, probably still out like a light the way he was when she last checked on him. She ended up going for a walk in the frosty quiet of the castle grounds, Olaf ending up trailing along behind her like a lost puppy.

"You look sad."

Of course only the talking snowman could read her emotions easier than anyone else. Elsa sighed. "I'm.. worried. And upset."

"Why?" Olaf shuffled in front of her, slowing her steps to a stop.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's Hans. He's... gone, remember?"

"Oh." Olaf looked at her, stretching out the syllables so it more resembled 'Ohhhhhh,' "And this is a bad thing, right?"

"Yes." Was it really? Did it truly honestly matter much in the grand scheme of things? She couldn't get those thoughts out of her head. "No. Maybe. I don't know." Elsa finally managed to whimper, covering her face with her gloved hands. "It should be."

The snowman didn't reply, knowing nothing he could say would make it better, he just shuffled along beside her in the quiet calm of sunrise.

Kristoff hadn't been sleeping at all, so Anna wasn't bothered by her empty bed. She just imagined he was probably outside in the snow. He liked being in the cold more often now. It didn't really bother her as much as it should have. He was his own person, and even if she would have preferred him being close to her, especially now that she was growing closer to her due date, he didn't have to be with her at every waking moment. She had Gunter to keep her company, either way. The boy was growing taller everyday. He was already as tall as her chest and he was nearly ten.

It had taken several anguished tries for them to try for a sibling for the boy. The doctors told her she had a very low chance of having any more children, but even that slightest chance was better than nothing. Even if it meant there were so many stillborn babies, and the chance of more to come. Anna wasn't going to let that break her heart, even if she could never have another baby after Gunter. She would keep trying even if it killed her in the end.

Kristoff awoke, head pounding, to cold sheets and an even colder room. The fire had gone out, and the sun shining through the windows offered no warmth. It was disquieting, and a deep sense of profound wrongness was soaking through every inch of his goose bumped skin. He felt as if he were all alone on another world, the only one alive in this freezing silent landscape. He crossed the room to the window and could see Elsa walking the grounds, hugging her arms close to herself. He could also see a horse on it's way to the castle, bounding impossibly fast and yet seeming to be nearing exhaustion as it ran.

Elsa was about to go back inside, feeling particularly and enjoyably numbed by the cold air, when an unrecognized horse came barreling through the gates with a dead man strapped to its saddle. She called for the guards, and, along with Olaf, ran to soothe the woolly horse and pull the corpse from its secured spot on the horse. It was when she got closer that she realized it just wasn't any corpse. It was Hans clad only in thin ragged clothes that would not have protected him from the elements wherever he had come from, looking beaten up and bloody. She managed to untie the ropes and tug him down. He was heavy but she slowly lowered him to the ground. That was when she saw he was breathing.

The guards approached and she allowed them to drape a blanket over the both of them. Elsa was trying to warm him up as best she could. His lips were blue, and his heartbeat was weak, but he was breathing, and she knew he would wake if only she got him warm enough. She only could worry and wonder what had happened that brought him to this state.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't work for, and never have worked for, Disney. I don't own any aspect of Frozen, and this is a not for profit fanwork. Thank you for reading.

Elsa had passed Kristoff in the hallway as the guards brought Hans up. He looked as if in a daze, bedhead and all. She didn't make eye contact, hoping he didn't remember the night before either. The man looked half asleep as he let the guards pass, dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept in weeks standing out in his pale face. Even the scraggly almost beard he was sporting was white in patches, like freshly fallen snow. His gaze was pointed forward, his feet plodding slowly across the floor. It was eerie.

The sight sent shivers down the Queen's spine, but at the same time she couldn't possibly tear her eyes away. Something about the way Kristoff was acting, seemed, off. Even the way he carried himself seemed different from how he normally was. It was strange, but not unheard of. Grief or stress may have affected him, Elsa didn't know what it could have been beside that.

Hans awoke, shivering, in his bed beside Elsa, despite the heat of the fire. The cold permeated his very bones, like Elsa was emanating it.

She had nodded off, her head on his shoulder; it looked as if she didn't even get a chance to change her , honestly, was the truth. She had not left his side in the entire time it took for him to regain consciousness.

All he really remembered was making sure to tie himself to the horse he'd stolen from the revolutionaries to keep from falling off if he'd lost consciousness from the cold or his wounds. The first thing he managed to say upon waking was one short phrase, uttered without a trace of irony: "I hate the cold."

A smile of relief crept onto Elsa's face. "What about me?"

He closed his eyes and drowsed for a moment before speaking again. "You're not cold to me, Elsa."

Her face burned and she lay her heated cheek against his chest.

Hans' whole body felt stiff and ached fiercely, but he relaxed, laying his arm across her back, knowing he was finally back at home, safe and sound with Elsa.

She awoke slowly, blinking her eyes in the midday light.

"Mmn? Hans?" It took her a moment to register she wasn't dreaming, but as soon as she did, she hugged him tightly. "I'm glad you're home. I.. I thought you left us for good."

Hans sighed, pulling her close to him, "Why would you even think that?"

Elsa easily reciprocated the embrace, kissing her husband's bruised and scraped forehead affectionately. There was only so much bandaging they could do, and so many superficial wounds from exposure marring his freckled skin. "It had been months, Hans. It was either that or you were dead."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Do I look dead to you?"

"Only half it." She replied, meeting his eyes, attempting to sound serious. Hans could tell she was fighting a smile, though, by the way the corners of her lips rose.

Kristoff left the castle early one morning, still half asleep and found himself face to face with Meinhard somewhere off in the forest. He recognized the area, so he knew he wasn't lost, but that wasn't what was bothering him. Kristoff couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt wrong.

His father smirked broadly as soon as he saw him. "Long time no see."

The mountain man's hair was cut shorter and curled slightly at the edges the way Kristoff's did. With his hair no longer as long as it was, Kristoff didn't recognize him at first. That and the petite dark skinned girl in the oversized blue overcoat beside him that stood out among the snow.

His father clutched the girl's tiny childlike hand in his own massive meaty mitts. "We were looking for you."

The girl had a voice that sounded it had been used either rarely or way too much; it just felt so commanding, Kristoff couldn't help but be compelled to listen and obey. "We want you to join our cause."

"What cause is this?" He couldn't hide the suspicion in his voice, as he narrowed his eyes. "You've might have heard of Den Oplyste ." When Kristoff didn't show any signs of understanding, she went on. "We also call ourselves Sommerens Lys" We believe everyone is created equal under the sight of Heaven."

Kristoff paused, listening carefully. That was something he could easily believe in and follow. "Go on."

"Our... group strives to bring everyone to the same level of equality."

"I get it. That's a good thing, I guess.." He turned to Meinhard. "And why do you want me to help?"

"You're close to the royal family, aren't you?" Meinhard asked.

"Yes?" Kristoff wondered where they were leading this conversation.

"I'm sure you could help us try to make everything better for the rest of us." The mountain man supplied, as the girl stared him down with her intimidating look.

"I suppose I could." Kristoff answered, weighing his options. It wasn't something he could easily outright tell Anna, but he trusted his father enough to be sure he wouldn't lead him astray.

"Do you think you will join us?" Meinhard offered his hand, a hand sewn green armband in his palm.

Kristoff covered the band with his own hand. "Yes."

Finally the girl spoke up after a long moment of silence. "I should tell the others then. To make preparations." Meinhard silently agreed and then she ran off into the forest, blue overcoat still visible amongst the trees as she drew further away.

The mountain man glanced back to his son. "So how about that?"

He was silent for a long moment, voice impassive. "You and she seemed close."

"Yes. Magga and I have been.. seeing each other." Meinhard sounded embarrassed at telling him, giving Kristoff a smile and a shrug.

"So much for loving my mother then." Kristoff hissed, this sudden aggressive attitude and outburst coming out of nowhere, voice harsh as ice crackled down his face from his temples. His fist tightened around the armband still in his hand. "Did she throw herself at you or did you pick her before she was old enough to consent?"

Meinhard blinked in surprise for a moment before he roared at him, gaze steely. "She's been dead for years, son. I'm not going to live my life alone for the rest of it if I can help it."

Kristoff made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat as if to say of course.

"Magga may be twenty years my junior, but she's sweet on me. And she knows how to handle a crowd."

"She looks as if she's sixteen!" Kristoff exploded, fighting to get his father to see his reasoning, an impossible to placate rage rapidly rising in him from an unknown source.

"She may be small but she packs a mighty punch." Meinhard shrugged, wondering what had gotten into him, his tone snippy. "I don't see why I have to explain myself to you, boy."

Kristoff scoffed and turned, before he started to walk away, back to the castle. Everyone had to be awake by now.

The mountain man called after him as he strode away, leaving Meinhard still standing there, in shock. "What has even gotten into you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Den Oplyste - The Enlightened (Danish)
> 
> Sommerens Lys - Summer's Light (Danish)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of Frozen, nor have i ever, or currently work at Disney. This is a not for profit fanwork. Thank you for reading.

Seeing Magga now, one would not believe she was the same soldier dwarfed by the guardsmens' coat that held Hans captive for months. Of course, Kristoff did not know this at all. Her face was cleaned and free of blood and dirt. even her teeth were clean, albeit crooked in places and chipped. She wore a beatific smile, one Kristoff found himself easily trusting. The only thing that tipped him off was the green armbands they both wore, embroidered with silver thread that matched the color of the frost surrounding them. Only when he looked closer did he see the design was that of a simply outlined flaming sword, done entirely in silver.

Kristoff wore his matching band, feeling like a part of something bigger than a family for the first time in his life.

Magga was walking him through the city, in areas that he guessed neither Elsa or Anna had even seen. "Look at these people. Look at their suffering. We should be able to help them, all of us." She had taken him to a slum, where children ran, not at all dressed for the cold, underfoot at all times.

He looked around in awe, the dissonance, between the poorest of the poor in the city and the admittedly cushy lifestyle he was swiftly growing used to, making his head swim. "Why have I never seen this before?" Kristoff's voice was shocked.

"The Royal family of Arendelle wishes to hide it away, I think."

"Anna would never let her sister do that!" He was incredulous.

"You should ask her then. Maybe she doesn't even know." Magga raised an eyebrow at him, used to the disbelief of new initiates.

"Queen Elsa wouldn't keep that from her, would she?"

"You won't know until you ask."

Meinhard had left the two of them to talk while he meandered up to the castle. He couldn't deal with Kristoff this time around, in case he snapped at him again with that sudden unbidden anger he hadn't expected in the slightest. The boy had no right to accuse him of cradle robbing, not when Magga had done so much to help him.

She understood loss the way he did, and introduced him to the rest of the group. All of them had lost someone at the hands of their so called royal family, many of them from before the current ruler of Arendelle had risen to power. He knew that feeling intimately, and fit in easily with the rest of them.

The previous king, it seemed, was heavy handed when it came to corporal punishment. Meinhard had discovered that soon after Jekaterina was killed. All of that free time led him to read through the annals of whichever kingdoms' histories he could get a hold of, which wasn't easy, since it seemed the histories were kept from the general population. From what he had seen, what the girl and the Oplyste had opened his eyes and shown him, it was clear something had to change.

Magga was his savior. She appeared to him as if out of nowhere one day, and offered him knowledge and a way to help others less fortunate, as if she had sought him out just to lead the people to freedom. Meinhard jumped at the chance, and the girl whisked him away. He had mentioned his son to her in casual conversation, when she asked him to tell her everything about him. He trusted the innocence she seemed to exude and told her everything about him, before spilling how he found her so incredibly beautiful, it was impossible to think straight around her. Magga accepted him as he was and admitted she had fancied him from afar for months. That was when she insisted she meet Kristoff. And now here they were; the closest thing to a real human family Kristoff had ever had.

Hans glanced to Elsa beside him. The poor woman looked run ragged, her hair a mess. He let her sleep, as he began getting dressed in the fine clothes he missed dreadfully in that filthy prison for months. Those damned soldiers took everything he had on him, even the miniature portrait he had had done of Elsa and Petra he kept with him always. Probably used as kindling by now. The thought sent anger searing through his veins and he clenched his fist against the top of his leg where he was sitting, fighting it.

They had no right to any of it. Hatred burned in him, straight to his core, pure unquenchable loathing for that revolutionary pixie girl and the rest of her nameless ragtag team of mercenary soldiers. They had no right.

He closed his eyes, thinking back to the dark cell.

Whoever the group claimed to be, all they said they wanted was whatever information Hans had about both Arendelle and the Southern Isles. At first. He only told them the bare minimum, even when he was threatened with being a permanent fixture of the prison, or even worse, death as an enemy of the revolution. Even then, he refused to say anything that would incite the wrath down upon his family. Especially when they gave him the option to join them or die. That was always a nice and cheery option to think about.

It was at that moment when the revolutionaries began to make more disturbing and erratic demands, like that he step down from the throne and allow chaos to reign over both Arendelle and the Southern Isles. Something in his chest twisted in fear when he heard they knew who he was, and intended to take whatever it was they set out to do to his homeland as well.

He always spat back at the girl who demanded the information of him, and she would release an inordinate amount of rage she seemed to hold pent up in that tiny childish body of hers. The last time he did it was before he escaped, and she had left him alone in the silence, only to come back wearing the coat of one of his guardsmen. Hans only recognized it because the man had mended it several times with mismatching thread in several places where it had been torn or nicked. She was brandishing an old crossbow; the same one his guardsman, Alexei, always carried with him, religiously. It even had his initials carved into the handle. The girl insisted she had killed Alexei (who had just barely reached his twenty first birthday in the service of the royal family and had a girl waiting at home for him; he only knew because Anna, sweet innocent Anna made it her goal to get to know every one of the guards and servants, and exclaimed everything she had discovered in a verbal diarrhea to Elsa at the dinner table) and the splattering of blood across her face proved it. It was to scare him into telling her everything, he was sure, even when he had no real guarantee they would let him live after. Hans expected they would kill him if he gave them the chance. He wasn't going to give them what they wanted anyway. Hans could not be sure whether she was bluffing or not, but he knew his guard would not have given up his overcoat and crossbow that easily. Even now he could see the manic look on her face when she slammed his head into the brick wall of the cell whenever he closed his eyes.

Meinhard managed to make it to the castle by noon, taking shortcuts through the woods. When he came across the majestic stone fortress, he noticed two guards were leading a particularly wooly horse away to the stables. If he hadn't have known better, he would have said it was his. It certainly looked like it. But that was impossible. Virvatuli was stabled with the rest of Magga's group's horses. Meinhard shrugged it off as a bizarre coincidence, and strode up to the gates. Tearing his armband off, he looked to the guards. They must have recognized him for they opened up the gates and allowed him entry, one of them even tapping his shoulder where Meinhard would have worn the armband. It must have been some bizarre kind of salute because he returned the gesture and a small wave. He wondered what on earth his brother had been up to in the time he hadn't seen him. Which was almost seven years now. Meinhard had been with Magga all that time. Now he felt like he needed to see Hans and apologize for all of that lost time while his darling Magga was busy getting to know Kristoff. He hoped this meant he was starting to be more accepting of Magga.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact! Virvatuli is Finnish for Will O' The Wisp! I chose it because it's a cute ass name for a horse and it sounds poetic, despite not being Danish.


	6. Unwell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any form of Frozen (not even on dvd!), don't work for Disney, and never have. This is a not for profit fanwork. Thank you for reading.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Hans had stopped him at the door. The man looked as if he had just begun the arduous task of recovering from a long illness.

"What happened to you?" The sound of worry was clear in Meinhard's voice.

Hans clenched his fists, knowing he probably looked terrible. He knew he felt it. "Royal business," was the cryptic reply he gave.

The mountain man scoffed. "Looks more like you were locked away somewhere for the last five years. Queen Elsa hasn't been keeping you in a cage, has she?" The traces of worry were gone, replaced with a smirk.

"No. I haven't done anything to warrant that." He ground out through his teeth, not having the patience to deal with his brother.

"Oh, really?" Meinhard ruffled his brother's hair as he shouldered past him; while Hans testily swatted his gloved hands away.

He sighed, letting it go. "Where have you been, it's been ages since you've been here."

"Been busy, just like you've been, I'd suppose." Meinhard shrugged. "I heard you had a daughter. She'd be, what, seven now?"

"Eight," Hans corrected him wearily, leaning against the wall.

"Where is she?" Meinhard glanced about him, ears straining for the sound of a child.

"In her lessons, with her cousin."

The mountain man brightened immediately. "How old is he?"

Hans squinted at him for a long moment, attempting to figure out why his brother needed to know. "Almost twelve. And mighty protective of Petra."

Meinhard laughed softly at a private joke Hans was not aware of, while he continued to talk over him.

"They're betrothed already, and Elsa is convinced that it's a perfect match."

"A betrothal, really? They're children, Hans."

Hans looked at him for a long moment, his gaze piercing. "I damn well know they're children, but I'm not allowing Petra to be hurt by any callous suitors or men with only money on their mind."

"Like you? I've heard some things about your history with the royal family of Arendelle." Meinhard raised an eyebrow. "Now isn't that hypocrisy at its finest."

"I was never in control of my actions, you know that!" Hans slammed his hands down on a nearby table he had begun leaning on, his legs still barely willing to cooperate.

"I wonder if Elsa would agree." His tone was cutting, as he rounded on his half brother; the mountain man bared his teeth like a wild animal. Hans could not even believe they were related at this moment.

"Don't you dare say another word about my wife." Hans' tone was threatening, a low growl in his throat like a dog.

"Or what, the cripple will try to attack me? Did you finally get retribution for what you did? Is that what this is?" Meinhard leaned in toward him, so they could be eye to eye, since the mountain man towered over his brother.

Hans launched himself at him, knocking Meinhard into the nearest mantle where they had been standing.

The mountain man didn't even bother fighting back, knowing if he did, Hans would definitely be injured worse.

"You know I'm right." He picked himself up off the hearth, and shoved past his brother. "I'm going to pay a visit to your wife."

Hans closed his eyes and let out a slow exhale, his shoulders resting against the mantle beside him until he was sure Meinhard had left him alone.

As he opened them again, he realized his brother had left something on the floor. It was gritty from the leftover ash, but Hans wiped it clean. The green cloth was a cheap scrap of fabric, the kind that is easily forgettable.

The part that caught and held his attention was the beautifully crafted hand stitched silver thread in the outline of a flaming sword. He was sure he'd seen it before but could not place where; the filigree stitching made him dizzy to look at it. Some part of him felt sick at the sight, and he nearly swooned; gripping the mantle in one white knuckled hand, Hans caught his breath.

Tucking it into his pocket with a still trembling hand, he found himself retracing Meinhard's steps to Elsa's chambers.

He could hear voices coming from the children's' playroom. Curiosity drew him forth, his footsteps clicking in the empty hallway past Elsa's bedroom.

Soft incomprehensible speech in a deep man's voice through the door was all he heard, and then the piercing sound of Elsa's laughter. Not even bothering to listen anymore, Hans opened the door, gloved hand shaking with barely repressed envy, and some sudden upwelling of weakness, one he couldn't believe he was showing.

What he found behind the door surprised him. Elsa was sitting in the rocking chair, holding the red headed child to her chest. Petra was sucking her thumb, an unbecoming trait for a young lady. That habit, he had not noticed, did not appear until he had managed to get home.

Meinhard, his giant prick of a brother, had to be regaling them with some joke or another. The mountain man was a born showman, that was for certain. Elsa glanced up at him, a mirthful smile still halfway across her face as she smoothed back Petra's hair.

The other rocking chair was occupied by a particularly gravid Anna, looking positively radiant as she glanced upwards toward the open door, in Hans' general direction. He felt a tiny stab in his chest, somewhere deep down, when she met his gaze, and she knew he had to be taking in what she looked like. Anna sheepishly was the one to tear her gaze from his.

Kristoff, the giant lumbering oaf, Hans always irrationally disliked him, squeezed her shoulders, to comfort her it seemed, a motion Elsa could not help but watch, following it with some interest. The gesture was too intimate and Hans had to look away.

"Of course my brother has to barge in and ruin the moment, as always." Meinhard's attitude was still scathing.

"Hush." Elsa all but commanded, as Petra sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "He is my husband, after all."

Meinhard conceded to her words, and bowed his head before stepping out of the way. "Perhaps I should leave then, since I'm unwelcome around my brother."

Hans stood up straighter, brow furrowed. "Perhaps you should." He took a step sideways, allowing Meinhard to pass. Petra hopped from her mother's lap, taking toddling steps toward her father, confounded thumb still stuck fast in her mouth.

"Darling, you're a big girl, you know big girls don't suck their thumbs." Elsa called from the chair, before standing up as well.

She cast a backwards glance toward her sister and, of course, Kristoff met her gaze. She was unable to tear it away for a moment, the man's once-brown eyes magnetic. She assumed it must have been the way the blue began to swirl in his irises, mixing with the brown to look like a torrential flood about to sweep her away.

Elsa released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding when Kristoff looked away.

Hans had been saying something, she wasn't listening.

"What?" She turned toward his face, which loomed closer than it had before.

"I said, you look as if you've seen a ghost." Hans took her arm, gripping it too tightly in his trembling fist, as if he needed the support to walk.

She covered his hand with her own, pulling the tight grip looser. "It's nothing. I just." She sighed, not wanting to chance another look over her shoulder at Anna. "I'm just tired, that's it."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen or any references to any other fandoms within this not-for-profit fanwork, nor do I work for Disney. The opinions of characters within this story do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the author. Please keep that in mind. Thanks for reading.

"Do you think I'm stupid, Elsa?" Hans rounded on her, limping ever so slightly. His leg had healed funny from when he had dropped off the horse. "I see the way you look at him. It disgusts me." He spat, venomous jealousy bubbling up his throat.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. "You're seeing things. I love you, and Petra. Why would I try to steal Kristoff from my sister, it's just crazy!"

"Is it, Elsa? Is it really?" He moved forward to grab her arm in anger, and she shoved him back with all of her strength.

Hans toppled backwards, turning, and hit the mantle, the sound of his nose cracking horrifyingly audible. "You hit me." Hans sounded shocked, but more numb than anything else as he touched his bleeding face. He pulled back his fingers to see the redness.

"I.. I didn't mean to." She wrung her hands together over her middle. "I promise, I didn't mean to hurt you, Hans, I just—" she pulled away sharply. "You've just changed."

"I've seen how the world treats monsters like us." He snuffled through the blood. "Perhaps you need to change too to keep up."

She pressed her lips together tightly. "You should get cleaned up." He laughed without mirth, wiping his bloody nose with his sleeve. "Giving me orders now, your highness?"

"Petra will see you all bloody, and she'll be terrified of you."

He grinned at her coldly, his expression hardening. "Maybe that's for the best, since I'm just a sickening bastard. I've forgotten what's the most important thing."

Elsa shook her head. "Don't make this about us. Petra can't see you like this."

Speaking of, the red headed child came barreling in, chased by Gunter. "Mumma!" She ran straight for Elsa's skirts, clutching at them. Gunter was coming at her with a luxurious slowness. "We were only playing a game, Aunt Elsa."

"It was a kissing game, Mumma!" Petra hid her face in the folds of the skirt. The Queen's eyes flashed as she focused on Gunter. "What did she mean by a kissing game?" The guilty expression on the boy's face told her everything she needed to know. "It was Petra's idea. She said she wanted to know how parents kiss."

"So you showed her." Hans finally spoke up from somewhere behind Elsa. Gunter nodded gravely. The silence settled the way dust would after a storm. "Elsa, you should handle this.."

That's when Petra looked up to her father. "What happened?"

So she wasn't as naive as Elsa expected. Hans' lip curled. "Petra, darling, it's nothing. I tripped and hit my nose on the fireplace." He cast an accusing glance in Elsa's direction before shouldering his way past her.

Was she really starting to fear him? What had changed between them? Elsa looked to Petra. The child's eyes were wide. "You may go back to playing with Gunter," she admitted softly, "just be careful."

Hans wasn't even looking for Meinhard, but the man had found him either way. "Care to explain this?" He brandished the armband beneath the blonde's nose. "You can't possibly be sympathizing with those savages, can you?"

"You're one to talk, brother. Have you enjoyed living on the backs of the lower class?" "What? Have you lost your mind, Meinhard?" Hans could barely believe what he was hearing, a nervous laugh erupting from his mouth at the ludicrous propaganda his half-brother was spouting. "You're just as much royal blood as I am, if not more!"

"Don't you think I'm aware of that? I'm trying to make the world better-"

"By leading the uneducated masses on a suicide mission?!" Hans' fists clenched at his sides; this anger of his was impossible to keep within. "Do you think this a good idea? Do you know what they tried to do to me?"

Meinhard stepped back a moment. "So you've met with them? And you still don't agree with their philosophy?"

"How can I when they threatened to murder my wife and daughter." He narrowed his eyes. "That black bitch killed my men and tried to do the same to me unless I relinquished my.. the throne."

That caused the mountain man to let out a beastly snarl of fury and pin Hans against the nearest brick wall. His forearm was like steel against his brother's throat.

Hans clawed at the choking pressure, trying in vain to get air back into his lungs.

"You take that back. Magga would never ever hurt somebody like that." The red head choked out a reply as best he could. "Let go of me.." He was kicking at Meinhard, attempting to at least get him to loosen up and let some oxygen back into his body, face growing red.

The blonde stared into Hans' gasping face for a long moment, before releasing him.

He fell to his knees, coughing and clutching at his soon to be bruised throat. "You're just like the rest of them; monsters! Quick to use violence if it means they'd get their way faster." Hans looked up at Meinhard, hair falling in his eyes, the dark circles underneath them making him look almost deathly ill. "You're no brother of mine, you're just another revolutionary trying to get the royal family out of the way."

The armband was between his hands, lying on the floor. "You disgust me." He spat upon the green cloth, still dizzy from the near suffocation he was inflicted.

"The feeling is mutual, brother." Meinhard scuffed his feet away, the tops of his boots slipping out of Hans' line of sight.

"Go back to whatever her name is then." Hans coughed again, spitting bloody sputum onto the ground at his feet, clearing his throat painfully. "Tell her she's welcome to your boots when she's done with you, the way she killed my men and stole their uniforms."

Meinhard fell quiet for a long moment, "Their uniforms?"

Hans sat up, on his knees. He wiped his bloody lip on his sleeve. "They killed every one of my guards and I'm sure they have plans to infiltrate the castle."

He looked away, remembering the guard's bizarre salute. "Are you sure?"

"Do I look like I'm unsure?" Hans wobbled to his feet, gripping the armband. "They want me and my family dead, Meinhard. They made damn death threats, they want my home razed to the ground and God knows what done to Elsa and Petra." It struck the mountain man just how weary Hans sounded. "I can't let that happen to them."

"I…" He stared at Hans. "I can't promise anything. Magga would leave me, I'm sure of it. But I can try to help in any way I can."

Hans looked away, crumpling the armband in his fist, his tone acidic. "Of course not. This Magga holds the key to your heart." He looked at his brother over his shoulder. "Or maybe just the key to your trousers. She looked almost as young as Petra. I didn't know your tastes ran to children."

Meinhard made a sound in the back of his throat, one of frustration. This was the second person to bring up their age difference. "It doesn't matter, Hans."

"Of course not." Hans echoed, not even listening anymore as he drifted out of the room.


	8. Revolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Frozen, nor do I work for Disney. The opinions of the characters in this don't match the opinions of the author. This is a not for profit fanwork. Thank you for reading.

Hans wasn't sure what had come over him; he honestly didn't. Everything around him seemed to make him slip further into a fugue state.

Elsa was worried about him, he was sure, but couldn't fathom the energy to really care. Even the sight of his beautiful daughter, or even Elsa couldn't rouse him from his daze until finally, the queen called attention to it.

The dining room was all but deserted; Hans sat at one end of the table and Elsa sat on his left. Petra had early morning riding lessons to attend.

"Darling, you don't seem well." Elsa looked at him for a long moment, as he traced the gold filigree on the tablecloth with his eyes, forcing himself to look away from her.

"Don't I?" Hans didn't look up. "Darling?"

She cringed at the harshness of his tone, as if he actually had struck her. "Why are you acting like this? What have I done to deserve this cold treatment?"

"Cold treatment? Little Miss Don't-Touch-Me-Or-I'll-Freeze-You?" He snorted and looked up at her for the first time. "Even after all I've done for you?"

"Can't we just have one moment of being civil, please? For Petra's sake." Elsa attempted to change the subject.

"No." He slammed his hands down on the table, palms down. "I can't stand just leaving this up in the air. Are you or are you not conducting an affair?"

The queen slowly lifted her gaze to meet his, affecting a steely tone. "I'm not going to lie to you so you can feel better about yourself, Hans."

"You lie about everything else, I don't see why this is any different."

That was the last straw. Elsa pushed her chair away from the table and stood. "If that's how its going to be, then so be it."

"Now you're going to be upset?" He kicked his chair away in his haste to stand and face her.

"I was already upset, Hans! If you opened your eyes and paid attention to me once in a while, you'd see that!" Elsa rounded on him, gathering her skirts into her hands to prevent it from hindering her.

"I'm too busy trying to prevent our home from crumbling beneath us, Elsa." Hans snapped at her, in her face. "There's an uprising coming and I am trying hard to stop it. The savages want you and Petra dead."

Elsa shook her head, "You always say that but I've never even seen any instances of it."

"They've infiltrated the castle, Elsa!" He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. "They could be anywhere."

"Hans, please. Do you even know how you sound right now? This paranoia is tearing us apart!"

The redhead raised his voice. "Don't even get me started on that. You have no idea what I've been through. They tortured me, Elsa. How can you not believe me when the proof is staring you in the face?"

She looked into his eyes, holding his gaze for a long moment, searching his face. The expression of pain on her face sent a twist through his gut.

"You're losing touch with reality, Hans." Elsa murmured, reaching out to touch his face; her fingertips traced his scars.

He covered her hand with his own gloved one. "You're the one losing touch here, Elsa. You can't even see what's around you, you're so locked up in your frozen little snowglobe of a home here. You have Petra, you have Anna, you even have your precious Kristoff." He spat the name as if it were poison. "I don't see why you need me anymore."

"Don't you dare speak like that!" She pulled her hand from his grip. "I love you, you know that!"

"It certainly doesn't seem like it." Hans furrowed his brow, turning from her only a little. "Some love this turned out to be, since you're sleeping with some disgusting ice pulling Saami."

Elsa drew her hand back and slapped him, hard enough to send him reeling. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? I'm trying to stop everyone I love from being killed, and you're fraternizing with the enemy!"

"The enemy?! Hans, what has gotten into you? You can't see everyone as the enemy when they're not!"

"I'm sorry, Elsa, but I'd hate to say I told you so when I'm proven right."

She closed her eyes and forced her face to become blank, fighting her emotions. "You won't be."

Meinhard brushed a kinked strand of black hair from his lover's face as a fire burned down to crackling embers behind them.

Magga opened her wide green eyes, looking up at him.

"I love you." He smiled, fingers stroking her cheek.

"The same goes to you." She answered, covering his hand with her own. "And what of our child?"

"I love it all the same." Meinhard leaned in, kissing her tenderly. She reciprocated, cupping his face in her delicate little hands. He dwarfed her tiny hands in his giant ones, as he began to pull away.

Magga let him pull back, before sighing. "How did it go with your brother? Is he on board with us?"

"He mistrusts you, and I too." He frowned, before looking back at her. "Someone's filled his head with lies about us. All of us."

The girl lay her head against one of his broad shoulders, letting out a shaky sigh and whispered, sleepily. "I knew this would happen. I even planned for it. Don't you worry, love."

Meinhard wrapped an arm around her without saying a word, just holding her close.

The dark skinned girl's breathing soon slowed, as if she was asleep. He let her lie back, nude, thin blanket draped hesitantly across her prone form.

"I'm sorry, Mags," Meinhard kissed her forehead, "But I have family to attend to."

He he began to re-dress, slipping into his boots as quietly as he could, long before sun-up.

Once she heard him leave, the door shutting loudly after him, Magga sat up, letting the blanket fall around her waist. Running a hand through her hair, the revolutionary smiled. She had him exactly where she wanted him. Meinhard was just another pawn in her game of life sized chess. Just a piece to get rid of before the Queen fell.

Now to put her men in place, Magga thought, stretching like a cat in the dim light streaming through the dirty window, letting herself revel in the sensation of knowing she was right. A small smile crept across her face. And let the pieces fall into place wherever they may. It would all come together soon enough and she would be there to see it happen.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So I updated some more. I finally got a few days off to write this omg. Hans is a dick ok. He's always been a dick. XD I wrote 90% of this while listening to a certain creepy song called We Know Where You Sleep on repeat, and it's so goddamn catchy I can't stop.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a not for profit fanwork. I've never worked for Disney and probably will never do so. Thank you for reading.

"This isn't over, you know it's going to have to come out sooner or later." He grabbed her arm, shaking her like a rag doll; not even heeding the frost gathering thickly as it spread up his arm.

"I told you, there's nothing between Kristoff and I!" She finally managed to force his hand off her.

There was silence for a beat as Hans stepped back in shock, heels clicking together with military precision. The blanket of rime was still sticking to his forearm and glove. "...Kristoff? I was referring to my brother."

Elsa's heart sank, but at the same time she was confused. "Why would I want to get involved with Meinhard?"

"Why would you want to get involved with Kristoff?!" Hans, too, didn't understand, but he felt she was being suspicious.

"I could ask you the same. What were you doing when you were in the Southern Isles?"

"Don't change the subject, this is about you and your sisters husband." His voice was cold and measured.

"No, you need to answer! Right now!" Elsa narrowed her eyes, her voice betraying the slightest of trembling.

He let out a soft bark of a laugh. "Or what, you'll leave me? If you go, I'm taking Petra home with me."

Her eyes narrowed and she bristled at the thought of losing her little girl, thoughts whirling at his insinuation of home. "No, I.."

"You what, won't do anything, Elsa? You've grown soft. That's why I need to make sure everything is safe. Which is what I was doing in the damned Southern Isles."

She looked away, and Hans turned her face back with a gentle touch of his fingertips.

Despite the tenderness of the touch, his hands were shaking. "Did you think I was sleeping with someone? Elsa, darling, I wanted to come back to you, but that's a little difficult when you're in a revolutionary prison awaiting death."

"And you're telling me this right now when you could have told me it all at the very beginning?" She turns fully, back facing him. "I don't like your condescending tone, Hans, darling, or the way you're acting."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Women. Are you always this hormonal? I swear, if I didn't know any better I'd think you were pregnant."

Elsa stiffened, but her husband didn't notice. He was too busy attempting to control his temper.

Hans was quiet for a long moment, focusing on clenching and unclenching his fists, realizing how he sounded, before sighing, his shoulders sinking. "You know I care deeply for you, I do." Hans slowly slipped an arm around her waist from behind, as he wearily kissed her neck.

"Hans.." She covered his hand with both of her own, slowly leaning into his touch, hesitant to even allow him this luxury of being close to her.

"I'm sorry. I've been worried as of late... And it tends to come out in the worst ways."

"I noticed." Her nails dug into the fabric of his sleeve; he didn't seem to notice.

"How many times must I apologize?" He nuzzled her neck, breathing in the scent of wintergreen she used as perfume.

"You still do apologize too much.." Elsa's eyes remained open, as her hand curled around his chin, just the slightest amount of frost covering his sideburns. Even then he didn't notice. "Hans?"

He opened his eyes, looking at her for a short moment. "I've neglected you for too long, haven't I? Are you like a horse, needing to be broken."

"Am I a horse then, or your wife?" She met his gaze, shock evident on her visage.

He laughed, as if at a joke she didn't understand. "I know horses, Elsa. The same way I know the sea."

"Why don't you marry one then and let me be, along with Petra." Elsa sounded weary, as she forced his hands away from her.

The former prince squeezed her hands in his, preventing her from pulling away. "Give me one more chance. I can get you to love me still."

Elsa was quiet for a long moment, before she inhaled sharply. He pulled her close at once and kissed her parted lips. The Queen couldn't help but kiss back, hands sliding up his chest from where he released her wrists.

"See? I love you, Elsa. Nobody can take that from me." Hans touched her cheek, tilting her face closer to his. She kissed him again, unbidden. "You're terrible to me. But I can't stay away."

"That's why you married me, isn't it?" He cracked a smile, and she couldn't help but smile back. Hans tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face to meet his. "Come to bed with me."

"I.. I have things to attend to." Elsa hesitated, before he turned her face back to his and kissed her again, deeply. She surged forward against him, then pulled back, embarrassed. "I shouldn't.."

"Please, Elsa. I need you. and I know you need me too."

"I.." She looked away, covering her mouth. "I want to."

"That's good enough for me." He took her hand, the one by her mouth, and pulled her close. Wrapping his arms around her waist, Hans kissed her again. "I knew I married you for a reason."

"Was this the reason then?" Elsa rested her hands on his chest, leaning against him.

"Maybe." He teased her with his lips, brushing them against her jawline. "Do you want it to be?"

"I don't know anymore." She lay her head on his shoulder, arms sliding up to wrap around his neck.

Hans kissed her gently on the lips, turning his head to reach her face. "For better or worse, remember?"

"Til death do us part. It never specified which of ours."

He frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. I was joking," Elsa insisted, expression serious.

"Of course you were." Hans muttered under his breath, before kissing her again.

She allowed him to guide their steps to their bedroom, making sure no one saw them sneaking in. Elsa felt the same way she guessed Anna felt when she first met Hans. That thought plummeted through her like a flaming arrow and she suppressed a shiver.

Hans must have assumed it was a shiver of something else, because he slid a hand up her bared shoulder. "Do you want me to warm you up? I'm good at that, remember?"

"Yes.." She breathed, letting him lead.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own a bit of Frozen, this is a not for profit fanwork, thank you for reading and reviewing.

Whenever Hans blinked he could still see her crumpled form at the foot of the stairs.

He could still hear every word his brother has exclaimed. Even now.

"Rosalind, Rosie, please.." It echoed in his skull, like the sound she had made when she hit the floor; a blood curdling crunch of her bones breaking and her flesh tearing from within.

Hans put his fists to his temples to quiet the rattling in his head. The whiskey coursing now through his system numbed him to the roiling, searing bile rising in his throat. Hans turned and couldn't help but let loose the contents of his stomach all over the carpet, not that he had even eaten anything to throw up. He hadn't had the will to eat.

It was the first time he'd seen a dead body. Her blood had begun to pool from where her head cracked against the flawless tiled floor. Magne was wailing over her body, cradling it to his chest; unaware of the redness seeping through his clothes. Hans absently wished someone could love him like that, to have someone who would be willing to mourn him.

He set his glass down with a clink against the table, and it tumbled to the floor with a crash. The servants would have a coronary if they knew it was his third glass broken today. Hans didn't really care though, it wasn't his problem anyway. He examined his hands, flexing the fingers slowly. It was still so odd to see the asymmetry, even now.

His hands were trembling and he knew what Elsa would say if she could see him now. He closed his eyes. She probably was hiding somewhere; sulking even. His temper had gotten the best of him, the way it's started to ever since those idiotic revolutionaries began to pop up like thorns all over. And now his own brother was involved. It was as if the very universe was against him from the beginning.

Hans would crush this revolution if it was the last thing he would ever do.

Kristoff could feel his body growing weaker. It was as if the cold was seeping the sheer energy from his bones, leaving behind a deep misery and an empty shell. The crown had to be the answer. There was was no other reason. This had to stop, no matter the consequences

"Elsa. I... I know I should be thanking you for all you've done, but I feel like I should tell you this. Ice has always been my life, but this ice is different. It knows, its alive... and it's always feeding off of me. I can't stand it, Elsa."

He was standing in the doorway of her bedroom, looming darkly over the entire room. "It's changing me, I know it is."

"I can't just take it away. You wouldn't be able to walk anymore. What would Anna say?"

"Anna can't know!" Kristoff growled, startling her, and Elsa had to take a few steps back in horror. "I can't live like this."

"Excuse me?" She gaped at him, staring in abject disgust. "Elsa, do whatever it takes to fix this." He stepped toward her, as the queen stepped back. Elsa bumped into the footboard of her wedding bed. "What do you want me to do?" He towered over her, and somewhere deep down, her stomach was in knots, and the heat inside was building, along with the fear.

"You're a smart girl." Something in Kristoff's voice changed, she didn't even recognize it anymore.

Elsa fell back against the bed with a gasp. "This ice was supposed to help you. What is happening to you?"

He narrowed his eyes. "You should know. You did this to me."

"How can I have when I don't even know what's gotten into you."

Kristoff began to climb onto the bed over her, one knee beside her on the mattress. He had her pinned by the hips.

"I've seen the way you treat me, the way you look at me." Kristoff leaned in, their noses almost together. "The ice tells me what it knows. I can't stand it. It's too much."

"Your eyes." She reached out to touch his face, cupping it in both of hers "It's like a mirror." She was right; his eyes had become a blue-white, the lightest azure possible, color, the way his crown looked, almost translucent even, clear enough to let the whites of his eyes show.

Kristoff took her hands from his face forcefully, crushing her pale hands in his own coarse ones as he kissed her deeply. Elsa didn't fight back, her hands loosely in fists in Kristoff's grip. He released one of her hands to cup the queen's face, tracing the delicate lines of her bone structure with his thumb. "Elsa.. I.."

She stared, unable to summon words, her chest heaving.

"H-how dare you?" Elsa finally managed to choke out, attempting to sit up, but only managing to put herself closer to him.

Kristoff looked confused for a moment, startled by the sound of her voice, before kissing her again, a hand sliding up into her loose hair. Elsa could feel the frost gathering where he touched, but it wasn't from her.

The heat building within her was too much, and she had to pull back to breathe, hands clasping Kristoff's shoulders tighter than necessary.

"You don't want me to stop, do you?" His voice was a low growl, unlike anything she'd ever heard before. Elsa wasn't sure if it was the crown or whatever it was that had begun to film his eyes over that was causing this. "I should—"

"But you don't," he pinned her down harder against the bed.

"Kristoff…." Elsa looked up at him. His skin was freezing cold where it touched her. Actual ice was less cold than this. "You're almost glacial."

"Anna could never handle this. I can't hurt her." He was back to his old self, reflective eyes closed to the queen's expression of horror.

"I don't know what to say." She touched the hair at his temple that had gone white as purely driven snow with her fingertips. Kristoff turned, to avoid the tender caress.

"Then don't say anything." He furrowed his brow, making sure not to look directly at her.

"Am I just her stand-in then?" She couldn't help but search his face for some semblance of sanity still there. "Anna's my sister, you know that, how could you possibly think I would be okay with this?"

"The ice told me you're unhappy married to Hans. It's been telling me everything about you. Everything."

Elsa stiffened. "What? How could frozen water tell you that? And what about you? What about Anna?"

"It's not just the water, it's everything. It knows everything. It hears everything." Kristoff's voice was filled with reverence. "You have the barest of minimal power, Elsa. There's so much more you don't know, and won't know unless you could see what I've seen."

"I don't want to see what you've seen." Her voice was a whisper. "It's destroying you from the inside out, isn't it?"

He opened his eyes slowly, finally holding her gaze. "If it is, I might just give in."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So I'm back guys, and I have more written. I'll be able to write even more now, since next week I'm going on vacation which means I can write more, without having to go to work. So get ready guys. Big things are coming. Also spot the references to the original snow queen story!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own a thing within this story, I don't own a single part of Frozen or work for Disney at all. The opinions within this story do not reflect the opinions of the author. Thank you for reading.

"What am I supposed to do then, Meinhard? Just let them rot under the royal noses?" Magga banged her fist against the rough hewn table, eyes flashing with intensity.

"You mean well, I know. But this could be taken as an act of war. A prison break, really?"

"This is a war, my love! We're vanquishing inequality on our way to the throne."

Meinhard scrubbed his hands through his short hacked beard, sighing in exasperation. "I don't want them to hunt you down and kill you."

"Like they aren't already? Meinhard, open your eyes. Your own brother wants me dead."

"He does not." The mountain man closed his eyes, forcing his thoughts away from the truth, denying every word.

"He killed his siblings, didn't he? And your sister in law."

"The bitch killed my brothers; that wasn't Hans' doing." Meinhard sounded weary over the correction. He didn't ask about the servant.

"What about Rosalind? Your brother's lover?"

"I don't know who that is. I was too busy pretending to be dead."

She fell silent. "Never mind then."

"No, what is this about?" He turned toward her, lifting the girl's bird-bone chin.

"Meinhard.." Magga began, trying to escape his grip.

"I need to know what you're getting into. I can't lose the woman I love twice."

"You're not going to lose me." She put her hands up to break free and push him back. "I swear, I—"

"Maggie, tell me, damn you!"

She shut her mouth with a snap of her teeth. "Are you really becoming this suspicious of me? Has your bastard brother filled your head with lies?"

"I am being as honest as I can be, Mags, please, let this be. Whatever you're trying to dig up is nothing compared to what will happen if you're caught."

The dark skinned girl looked as if she was dealt a physical blow, flinching back away from Meinhard's presence.

"...Fine. Only for you, my love." She closed her eyes and sighed softly.

Magga was unsure if he was feigning ignorance or truly didn't know, but that didn't matter. She'd avenge all of the deaths Prince Hans had caused, no matter the price, even if it meant losing Meinhard in the process.

"Do you miss them?" Elsa was running her fingers through his hair, just a tender absent action.

"Who?" Hans looked up at her from where he was lying, resting between her legs, chin in hands on her rib cage.

"Your brothers."

He fell silent, closing his eyes, before reciting what he'd said a thousand times before. "I have no choice but to move on from the tragedy that kick started our life together."

"Hans". Her tone was a warning for him to start telling the truth.

"Would you miss Anna if she were to be lost at sea the way your parents were?"

A shiver went down her spine but she remained silent, unable to respond.

"It's like a hole where my guts should be." Hans continued, turning his head and placing his cheek on her still sticky skin. "It hurts.. But it's growing duller everyday."

Elsa let her fingertips brush down his scarred cheek, coming to rest gently on his shoulder. "I should apologize then."

"No, you don't have to." He sounded half asleep.

"You're drunk, Hans.." Elsa sighed. "I could smell it on you when you first came in."

"And you fucked me silly anyway." The redhead spoke through a yawn.

"You're not going to remember this conversation tomorrow." Elsa answered, fingers dipping low across his back.

"I'll remember sleeping with my wife. Is that not good enough?"

Elsa shivered, remembering that morning, and Kristoff.

"Are you cold?" Hans draped the blanket higher around them, as he put down his head close beside her.

"I'm just thinking," Elsa replied, sounding distracted.

"Of?" He nestled closer, breathing in the sweet wintergreen scent of her hair.

A thought then struck her:

"Are you turning into Magne, Hans?"

"Where did you hear that name?" There was clear horror in his voice.

"I remember he was the drunk one, wasn't he?" Why had he reacted that way to hearing his brother's name?

"Y-yes..." Hans relaxed. "His wife died tragically right after giving birth to their child."

"How?"

Hans' expression was one of queasiness and he grimaced as he spoke; "He pushed her down the stairs."

"That's terrible. How could he do that to her?"

"He claimed the child wasn't his. Had his same damn eyes and everything, I saw the boy myself." Hans' grip around her waist tightened. "I didn't want the same happening to you."

"You don't need to worry about me."

"Elsa."

"You're drunk. We're not having this conversation when you're like this."

"I can't lose you." He gripped her wrists. "Don't make me go on without you."

"Hans...?" She stared up at him, shocked.

"I'm drunk, like you said.." He released her roughly. "I'm turning into my brother, just like you said."

"I.. I didn't mean it like that."

"Of course not." He pulled away, lying on his side away from her.

"Hans..." Elsa lay her hand against his shoulder.

He started violently, as if her touch was, on its own, so abhorrent, shrugging away from her. "I do so much for you."

"Y-yes." She admitted, sitting up and looking at him. "And Petra too.."

Hans stiffened as if he had forgotten about her, drawing closer into himself. "She's changed so much."

"She reminds me of you, I think." A smile crossed the Queen's face at the thought of Petra. "Except she's hopelessly devoted to her cousin."

"She's a child."

"So is Gunter. I trust Anna would raise her son to treat women well."

"Not when the boy in question is some Saami halfbreed."

"Don't you say that about him!"

"Sweet on him too? Or is that just his father?"

Elsa scoffed in disbelief, as she gathered the sheets closer to herself and pulled them off the bed, moving to the chair by the fire. "I can't even understand how I can put up with you sometimes."

She had wrapped herself in the sheets, leaving the bed nearly bare, and Hans splayed haphazardly across the mattress.

"Elsa!" Hans lifted his head only a fraction off the mattress, so his voice remained muffled.

"You're despicable." She didn't turn from where she had been staring into the fireplace.

"You married me, my love. What does that say about you?"

She stiffened, and finally turned with a creaking slowness; she moved as if she had been struck with palsy or arthritis.

"It's too cold in this bed without you." He called again, looking toward her back.

"Perhaps you should get used to it." Elsa sniffed, casting her gaze as far from her husband as possible. "If this is how you're going to treat me and my family."

"What family? Kristoff?" Hans sat up sharply, fingers scrabbling on the bare mattress. His voice was hoarse.

"Don't you raise your voice to me." Elsa's temper was cold, but searing in the impersonalness of it.

"Excuse me? I am your husband. How dare you talk to me that way!"

The Queen stood, her sheets loose around her form; "If you wake up one day, and I'm gone, don't be surprised."

"I won't be." He was staring at her, completely naked.

Even now Elsa couldn't keep her eyes off of his body. Every single freckle and scar she had memorized once upon a time, but now just the sight of him hurt her deep inside.

The sound of his voice made her close her eyes, and tense, ready for his reply. "Yes, you would. You're afraid if I go, the revolutionaries would fall upon you like wolves."

Hans had no witty response for that. He only sighed and sank back against the bed. "Maybe I am becoming my brother."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any bit of Frozen, or anything herein. The opinions within this story aren't necessarily the opinions of the author,. This is a not for profit fanwork, thanks for reading.

It was Anna that had called to attention her missing husband. "Where's Kristoff?"

Elsa frowned, looking up at her. "I don't know, I thought he would be right by you."

Anna's brow knitted, and she looked desperately to her sister. "He's been… distraught lately. I think it's his leg that had been bothering him. Are you sure you haven't seen him?"

Her eyes widened, and she began to wring her hands together.

"His leg?"

'Yeah. The one you made for him."

Elsa pressed her hands to her stomach, face pale.

"What's wrong?" Anna came closer, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I.." She looked up at her sister. "This might not be the best time to say it."

"Now I'm curious; Elsa, just tell me. I can keep a secret if you want me to." She looked up at her sister's worried expression.

The queen took a shaky breath, before letting her shoulders sag and relax. "I'm pregnant again, Anna."

"That's good news!"

"Not if Kristoff's gone missing, and Hans is being too dreadful to even talk to."

"What do you mean?"

"He's… hard to deal with." Elsa grimaced. "We've been doing nothing but fighting."

"Nothing? I could hear you from all the way in my room."

She colored redder than ever before. "That was before we were arguing. He was drunk at the time; I couldn't handle it."

"Oh." She bit her lip, looking down at her own stomach. "Kristoff was always doting on me, before he vanished."

"I don't think he vanished, Anna.."

"What are you saying?"

"He left this."

She held a paper in her outstretched hand.

"What is this?" Anna took the paper, reading it slowly.

"I thought you should read it first."

"Now is the perfect time to strike, my love." Magga clutched at her lover's hand, looking up at the mountain man's expression as he pressed her against the straw tick mattress.

Meinhard kissed her desperately. "I don't want to lose you. Why must you do this now?"

"This is more than the both of us, Meinhard." Magga ran her hand down his cheek. "I promise you this will be successful."

"I just.. have a bad feeling about this."

"Is it your brother?"

"Hans? No.. It's my son." Meinhard sat up, slipping off of her.

"Kristoff?" Magga rolled onto her side, elbow resting on the bed.

"Yes. From what I've heard, he's become a source of trouble for the kingdom."

"Do you think he's trying to help us?"

"No. I think he's doing his own thing, and it just so happens to be leading both the kingdom and our people straight into trouble?"

Magga shot straight up, "What do you mean? What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I think Kristoff's lost his mind. I've seen him out and about in the woods. I'm saying my son is bewitched."

"Are you suggesting we break this hex or whatever?" Magga stared, unable to understand what her lover was planning but getting a feeling whatever it was wouldn't be good for anyone.

"If anything, it will leave me feeling less anxious about any of this. You got lucky with the prison break, and the installation of our men in the castle, but we're running on borrowed time here. I don't like it, and I don't want you to get involved this way."

"I'm not hearing this, Meinhard. Don't you tell me what I can and cannot do." She stood up, suddenly, climbing off of the bed.

He grabbed hold of her forearm, tugging her back against him with ferocity.

"Magga!"

"You are not my keeper!" She roared back at him, stiffening as she tried to pull her arm from his grasp with no result, eyes blazing with a fury he'd never seen before. "I am not a child!"

Don't you dare make this about your age! You are carrying my child, I should be allowed to be worried about you!" The mountain man shook her roughly, trying to knock some sense into the dark skinned girl.

Magga's voice was shrill. "You didn't care when your bloody brother tried to hurt our baby! Why do you care so much now?"

Meinhard's expression darkened, his voice low and dangerous as he let go of her arms, too afraid of hurting her when his fists clenched tight enough to turn his knuckles white. "When did my brother do this?"

She stared at him, her words wavering. "There'll be time enough for revenge soon enough, Meinhard."

"No. I'm going to find him and kill him."

What a sudden change of heart, Magga thought, searching his expression. "I see you care less about the state of the common people and more about me." Her voice was flat, without emotion.

At that, it was the blonde's turn to look at her incredulously. "As I should. I love you, Mags. More than anything else."

She crossed her arms over her bare chest, turning away with intense deliberation.

Meinhard came up behind her, wrapping his large arms around her scrawny midsection and pressing his lips to her shoulder, eyes closed tight.

Magga shivered, as his beard scratched at her bare back. Using him the way she was, was beginning to become more and more difficult. She wasn't sure if she could do it anymore.

Meinhard put his large hand on her stomach; Magga covered his hand with both of her own. "I love you too."

"Kristoff's gone? Just like that?" Anna looked up at her sister, shock evident on her features, eyes wide with horror.

Elsa sighed, her shoulders sinking. "I guess." She didn't mention how she was sure it was her fault. Her and this baby. Her hands tightened around her middle. "He seemed upset last time I saw him, too.."

"When was that?"

"I…" The queen closed her eyes. "At least two days ago."

"Two days ago!? Elsa!" Anna's voice broke. "How could he have been gone this long and I didn't even notice?"

"Anna.. I don't know. I'm sorry. I've been so busy."

"You've been so busy sleeping with Hans!" Her face was nearly the color as her hair, eyes wet.

"Anna!" Elsa was shocked at how blunt her sister was being.

"No, Elsa, I'm tired of you putting everything aside for him." Anna gripped her skirt tightly, wringing it between her hands.

"He's my husband!"

"He's taking you away from me!"

Elsa couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What? How could you say that?"

Anna refused to answer; she covered her face with her hands. "I.. I'm just so upset, I-I don't know what I'm saying.. D-don't let Gunter know about this. I need to go find him."

"In your condition?" The queen held her out at arms' length. "No, Anna.. I can't let you go, I'll go instead."

Anna looked up at her, face wet. "Would you do that for me?"

"I.." She pulled her sister into a tight hug. "Yes. I'll find him for you."


	13. Captive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own literally none of the things in this fanfic other than the ocs, but even then they're based off of ideas given to me by my friends.

"Kristoff, I know you're here somewhere!" Elsa called out, into the wind. "Anna's worried about you!" She attempted to wave the flurries away from her face, but to no avail. Her own powers had no effect. "Kristoff!" Elsa's voice cracked, as the wind picked up exponentially. "You can't just leave Anna alone like that. You can't leave me like that!"

The wind began to blow her backward further, Elsa's clothes becoming encrusted with frost. She wasn't sure if the frost was from her or from the wind itself, but it didn't bother her so much as weigh down her dress. "Kristoff!"

It was getting dark, and Elsa still had not come across any sign of him. Anna must be getting worried back at the castle. Then she realised something and her heart sank. She didn't even tell Hans where she was going.

She had to stop for a moment, and catch her breath and maybe wait until the storm cleared up or something. Elsa's head was pounding, and she was sure it was from the stress or something. A hand flew to her forehead as she leaned against a rimed birch, the branches all iced like windchimes. Elsa's eyes drifted shut; she was just going to rest them for a moment, she promised herself.

It had to have been hours later, Elsa recalled as she woke, feeling as if she had frozen solid. For a moment she was sure she was back in that ice castle she had constructed after the coronation so long ago, but then she realized. No, she was in some kind of fortress made of ice, but it seemed more crude, more of a prison than a spire. Was this Kristoff's creation?

"You're awake. Good." A familiar voice called from the doorway. Elsa turned slowly toward the door, shifting beneath a thick horse blanket.

"Kristoff? What is this?" The queen sat up, clutching her stomach as it roiled.

"Did you come here to bring me back to Anna?" His voice was different, sonorous; each word was echoing independently.

"Yes! You left her without another word! How could you just leave a note and then run away from your responsibilities?" Elsa stood, wobbling on suddenly shaky legs.

Kristoff rushed forward to help her stand, hands resting intimately on her waist as she glanced up at him before pushing him away as far as she could despite the fact that she could barely remain upright on her own.

Elsa's eyes fluttered closed and remained closed until she felt a coarse hand, one colder than her own skin, touch her cheek.

"I knew you'd come for me, you can feel the pull too."

"The pull?" She felt dizzy, her eyelids heavy as she couldn't help but lean into his touch, exhaustion weighing on her like a boulder.

"I need you, Elsa. We could do so much together." Kristoff brushed his lips against hers.

"No.. I can't, I don't want to." She felt as if she was falling asleep right there. How had Kristoff gotten so close to her in such little time.

"But you must. I have something to show you." He guided her out the door, and down the hall a short way. Elsa didn't pay attention, unable to open her eyes for very long, her head rolling on her shoulders slowly.

"Mumma?" There was a quiet shuffle somewhere to her left, and Elsa's eyes snapped open instantly, recognizing the voice. "Petra!?"

"Kristoff, how did you bring Petra here?" Elsa crouched automatically, gathering her daughter into her arms, examining her quickly to see if he had hurt her.

"I have my secrets, the same as you."

"Don't give me that excuse, Kristoff! You took her from her home!" Ice crackled up Elsa's sleeves and she felt strength flow back into her veins at the emotion she was showing, Whatever power had been keeping her withered like that was losing hold over her. Or it could have been the child, she wasn't sure.

"Elsa, I-!"

"No! Don't you dare say another word to me!" Elsa rounded on him, gathering her skirts in her hands, Petra protected behind her.

"I gave you a chance to accept, Elsa…" Kristoff's eyes glowed a lighter azure than she had ever seen as he narrowed them. "You give me no other choice."

"No matter what you do to me, I won't let you touch Petra!"

"I don't want her! I never wanted her! She means nothing to me!" Kristoff swiped at the air with a broad hand, the wind picking up. "She looks just like him!"

"Why did you take her?" Elsa spread her arm behind her to keep the child away from Kristoff, horrified at his words.

"I knew you wouldn't be willing to leave without her."

"Willing?!" She focused all of her energy on Kristoff in one scathing look and moved toward him, intent on using her powers. "How dare you use my child against me!"

"If you stay, I'll let her go." He caught her wrist easily, squeezing it with an inhuman strength Elsa had not realized he possessed, somehow preventing any ice from gathering in her hands. "I'll even bring her home myself."

"I…" She attempted to tug her hand free of his fist, expending a considerable amount of effort but getting nowhere. He had her trapped. Elsa let her head hang. "You leave me with no choice."

As soon as Hans had realized Elsa was missing, he asked the servants, only to discover she, as well as Petra, had been gone for almost two days. Two days and he hadn't even noticed. What kind of husband and father was he?

Hans couldn't stop himself from preparing Sitron and riding into the woods to try and find her tracks. It was almost as if she had hidden her tracks from him. That is, until he discovered a pair of tracks that were obviously belonging to a man. He had to follow them for as long as they went on. It was sundown when he came across an immense building carved entirely of ice, with a sledge bearing the mark of Arrendelle tied up at the gate. That meant only one thing. Elsa had run off with Kristoff. There was no other explanation.

Clasping his jacket to himself, and gathering his sword from the scabbard at his hip, Hans hunched his shoulders and proceeded to attempt to get inside. It was difficult going; the floor was slick, Elsa must have set it up to prevent him from coming across them. She had to have, there was no other reason for there to be ice everywhere, hindering every step he took.

"Daddy!" The redheaded child ran to her father, seemingly unhurt and free.

"Petra?! What-" Hans stood in the doorway, taking in the sight. Elsa was in a constructed ice cage. Why couldn't she just use her powers to get out? What was she doing there in the first place.

Kristoff spun where he stood, reflective white blue eyes staring with a palpable amount of hatred to where Hans was climbing the stairs.

"You're not taking them from me!" A gust of snowy wind nearly sent him head over feet back down the frozen stairs. Hans only managed to remain standing through grabbing hold of the walls.

"Stop this!" Elsa yelled from where she was imprisoned, her voice wavering. "Kristoff, please!"

Kristoff reeled as if he was struck at the sound of his name echoing off of the translucent walls around them, hands over his ears, as Hans ran to the cell constructed out of ice.

"Tell me he didn't hurt you."

She shook her head. "He didn't. I didn't let him."

He cupped her face in his hands as best he could through the bars. Elsa leaned into his touch, as he ran his thumbs along her cheekbones.

Closing her eyes, she muttered:

"It's the crown. Knock it off his head and he'll be powerless."

"I need to get you out of here first." Hans began to look for the lock so he could try to smash it open.

"Don't worry about me, Hans. Get Petra first, and then you can get me out."

She kissed him, pulling his face to hers through the icy bars. "Where are the keys?"

"I don't know. With Gunter I think, if I had to guess."

He looked up at her. "The boy's here too? What about Anna?"

Elsa shook her head; "No, he and Anna are both at the castle.. The servants are with her."

"I have to go back then, there's no other option.." He took her arm in his hand, squeezing gently. "Elsa, I will come back for you, I promise."

"I know you will. I trust you."

"That's good to know." He grinned.

"Don't start. Just get Petra out of here. Bring her to the castle. I'll be alright for now."

"I wish I could believe you."

"He wouldn't dare to hurt me.. He wants me to love him. I-" She looked away, sighing softly. "It's the crown. It's my fault. I made it for him, I-"

"Elsa.."

The queen glanced up at him, face pallid. "Just go. Get her out of here as fast as you can, before its too late."

He looked her up and down, eyes wide. "How can I-"

"Go!" She kissed him deeply through the bars, before she shoved him away.

Hans stumbled a little before catching his footing and looking back at her. "Hurry!"

He swung his sword at the bars, but it seemed to be like rock. The only thing that he managed to do was shatter the steel. It was colder than anything he'd ever encountered, save Anna all those years ago. But that was impossible. Was Elsa's ice capable of doing it again only to inanimate objects. The ice should have snapped easily, instead of rendering the sword brittle and broken.

"There's no time for that, Hans, just go!"

Elsa turned back toward her brother in law, where he was almost curled up, hands clasped over his ears and the crown as if his temples pained him, the crown being held on with one hand. She almost pitied him, if it weren't for the fact that he held her captive.

Kristoff soon recovered from whatever had been bothering him, snarling in Hans' direction like an animal, but it was too late. He had escaped back down the stairs, leaving behind the destroyed sword, and gathering Petra in his arms, nearly tumbling headlong to his death as he ran.

He turned back to Elsa, looking nothing like his regular self. There was something else there, a jealousy turned vicious. "I'm going to kill him, and there'll be nothing in my way."

A shiver went down her spine and she knew it wasn't from the cold.

"What about Anna? What about my sister?" Elsa called, grasping the bars still. "You can't just leave her alone in the castle!"

"My son's with her, isn't he? He can rule." This wasn't Kristoff anymore. It was someone new, someone cold like a glacier on a mountain top.

"Gunter is a child, Kristoff! What is wrong with you?"

Kristoff stared at her, not truly seeing her but seeing through her. "He will be old enough to rule soon enough."

"Kristoff!"

He turned to go, closing the door behind him. "We're finished discussing this."

Elsa fell to her knees, still gripping the bars.

"Kristoff! You can't just leave me here! Kristoff!


End file.
